Growers pay great attention to the degree of ripeness of their fruits by storing them under certain conditions, in order to extend their shelf life. Once you have bought bananas you can reverse this process with some tricks "coming" from their own research. Read on to understand how to make unripe bananas soft and tasty.
Steps
Method 1 of 2: Ripe the Bananas
Step 1. Place the bananas in a paper bag
This fruit produces a gas called ethylene which in turn triggers ripening. The paper bag allows gas to be trapped around the bananas.
- Avoid waxed or waterproof bags as they absorb ethylene.
- Plastic bags block the passage of oxygen, thus slowing down the production of ethylene by bananas.
Step 2. Add more fruit to the bag
Some fruits release ethylene when ripe, thus triggering the ripening process in all the unripe ones in the container. The most suitable fruits for this purpose are apples, pears, apricots and other stone fruits, avocados, kiwis and quince. You can use other bananas as well, but their effectiveness is less, unless they are perfectly ripe.
- Use the ripest fruits you can find or cut them to encourage ethylene production.
- If they are deeply engraved and cut, other fruits and even vegetables and tubers are able, at times, to produce the gas. If you don't have anything better available, cut the vegetables and put them in the bag with the bananas.
Step 3. Leave the container in a warm room
Heat speeds up the process significantly. The ideal temperature to give bananas an excellent flavor and texture is around 18-20 ° C. This is the average temperature of a heated house. You can also consider placing the bag in a particularly hot spot in the room, such as on top of the refrigerator or stove, to further accelerate maturation. As a result, you will get bananas with an uneven degree of ripeness, but that shouldn't be a problem in most cases.
Avoid humid areas that can encourage mold growth
Step 4. If the weather is very dry, make the room a little humid
A very low humidity level slows down ripening and interferes with the development of a good fruit flavor. If the weather is dry, turn on a humidifier in the kitchen or leave a shallow container full of water on the counter.
Step 5. Check the contents of the bag often
Bananas usually mature within 48 hours, but if they are very green, it can take several days. Check them once or twice a day, as the fruit in the banana bag could rot quickly.
Method 2 of 2: Over-Ripening Bananas
Step 1. Use this method if you need to make baked goods with bananas
Many recipes for banana bread or other baked items specify that the fruit should be very ripe, brown and soggy. You can heat some firm, yellow bananas in the oven to turn them into the mushy, gooey ingredient you're looking for.
While it is possible to heat the banana until it is ripe, be aware that the oven doesn't give you much control over the process. Unless you constantly monitor the "cooking" phase, chances are you will end up with patchy and rather mushy bananas
Step 2. Turn on the oven and preheat it to 150 ° C
If you don't want bananas to turn completely black, set it at a lower temperature. Usually an oven at 77 ° C is used
Step 3. Place the bananas on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper
The coating prevents the juices and soft pulp of the fruit from dirtying the pan. Make sure you keep the peel; make sure that the bananas are arranged in a single layer and well spaced to ensure air circulation.
Step 4. Check the process regularly
Turn on the inside oven light so you can observe the bananas. In order for them to be ready for most recipes, you will need to wait for the skins to turn completely black. This will take 20-40 minutes, depending on the size of the fruit and the characteristics of the appliance.
Step 5. Add bananas to your preparation
Here is a useful tip for incorporating soft, cooked bananas into the batter: cut the tip of the fruit with a pair of scissors and then crush the peel to extract the pulp.
Advice
- In India, some greengrocers light incense sticks in banana stores. Most combustion produces ethylene gas and frankincense is a way to develop it without overheating the fruit.
- There is another method of accelerating the ripening of bananas, but the result is an unpleasant smell and its implementation is impractical at home. "Caprylic acid", sold as a food supplement, makes bananas more sensitive to ethylene, the gas that triggers the ripening process. Since this product also blocks the production of ethylene by bananas, the method only works if you place them in a bag with other ripe fruit.
- Freezing makes bananas soggy, black, and overripe.
- If your fruit is overripe at the end, you can use it for a smoothie or to make banana bread.
Warnings
- Do not store unripe bananas in the refrigerator, otherwise they will not ripen well even after bringing them back to room temperature.
- Protect them from moisture to prevent the development of mold.
